William Perlman/The Star-LedgerRod Thorn says the Nets 'have no choice but to try to control the tempo of the game.'MILWAUKEE – True to the Thorn Doctrine, there will not be panic, there will not be obfuscation, there will not be castigation.

There’s not much to say at this point, and that’s the reality of it. Every day – almost every hour — somebody will stop Rod Thorn in his tracks and ask him about his team, about its record, about his coach, about where this is all heading.

And as the daily pressure mounts to do something – anything — the Nets president responds in the only way he can.

“As calmly as possible,” he said whimsically Wednesday, a few hours before his 0-11 team took on the Bucks. “I always try to explain it rationally – that’s hard, and I don’t always get it done — but you have to be realistic.

“You can’t just say, ‘We hope this happens.’ That’s not good enough. It’s about what you’re getting done and what you’re trying to get done down the road. That’s not easy to do or explain. Particularly when you’re 0-11.”

The odds are they won’t be winless for long. Players are due to return – as early as this weekend, in fact – and manpower won’t be as big an issue when the Nets leave for the West Coast Monday morning.

But what happens then?

What are his most realistic hopes for the Nets once the bodies start to heal?

“Well, I would hope that we will not only be competitive, but win our fair share of games,” Thorn said. “We’ve been reasonably competitive, except for second half of Denver game and the last 26 minutes of Washington game. So hopefully, we’ll not only be competitive, we’ll win some. And I think we will.”

In other words, small goals first, big picture issues later.

There have been some notable positives. Brook Lopez is showing the potential to dominate. Chris Douglas-Roberts has demonstrated a huge heart and vast improvement. And this is the kind of defense the Nets wish they had in 2006-07 and every year since then: They’re ranked ninth in scoring defense, 11th in field-goal defense, 10th in 3-point defense.

“The defense has been very good in the last five games,” Thorn said. “We’ve got opponents at 44 percent now, but I think we need to get that down to 42 or so for us to be real competitive.”

Whether they’ll maintain the same kind of defensive commitment two weeks from now is another issue. The current team, just eight deep, defends out of desperation. The next group – the one that includes Devin Harris and Courtney Lee and Yi Jianlian – will go about trying to win very differently.

“There will, no doubt, be some change in that we’ll shoot more and get more fast breaks, and be more active offensively,” Thorn said. “And we’ll probably not try to control the clock as much. So it’ll change some.

“But right now, we have no choice but to try to control the tempo of the game. It’s the only way we can stay in the game right now. Lawrence (Frank) is doing his best, trying to do what we can to keep the score down.”

If only offense came as easily. The Nets were ranked last in shooting (.403) entering Wednesday night, and 29th in scoring at a mere 84.4 points per game. Realistically, that probably won’t change until Harris returns, Thorn agreed.

“We go through these droughts every night, it seems,” he said. “And most of the time that’s the difference in the game. Obviously we need to keep the scores down, but we need someone to shoot the ball better.

“There are extenuating circumstances. Against Indiana, our bench was comprised of guys who play power forward, center, and small forward. We had no wing players or point guards to put in the game. That makes it difficult, it really does. We played three guys over 40 minutes, too.”

But those people he encounters daily don’t want to hear that.

That’s the main thing he’s learned in the first 11 games: No one cares if you’re missing seven of your top 10 players.

“That’s just the way it is.” Thorn said. “You saw what happened (Tuesday) night: Indiana was missing three players (Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy and Jeff Foster), and virtually every night the other team is missing someone.

“Fans are coming to games to see you win, and don’t care who you’re playing. Hopefully, we’ll get some soon in this next stretch, or when we start to get some players back.”